At the Southwestern Invitational in Georgetown, Texas, Saint Mary's competed against three nationally ranked teams among other competition while placing fourth overall.
The Belles combined for a total score of 687, 20 strokes behind the winner, No. 10 Mary Hardin-Baylor. The Belles found themselves behind 11 strokes to the host, No. 19 Southwestern, after Monday's competition. Mary Hardin-Baylor rallied past Southwestern on Tuesday afternoon, but the other schools, including Saint Mary's, remained in their positions.
Saint Mary's put itself in contention after the first day of competition thanks to sophomore Paige Pollak's low score of 81. Pollak shot the second-best score on the front nine for the entire day with a 38. Belles senior captain Christine Brown followed closely behind Pollak with an 85, which was good enough to get her into 10th place going into the second day of competition. Saint Mary's sophomore Doyle O'Brien shot an 87 in the first round, giving her the third lowest score for the Belles after day one.
O'Brien heated up on Tuesday, shooting a 79. O'Brien's second round was the second lowest round score of the entire tournament. O'Brien's strong performance gave her a combined score of 166 over two days, as she jumped up to 7th place overall on the individual leaderboard.
Pollak came back on Tuesday to shoot a 90, which while not as strong as her first day, was still good enough to give her at a combined score of 171, putting her in 12th place overall.
She shot an 88 on Tuesday, giving her a 173 for the tournament. Overall, the Belles shot a 342 on Tuesday, three strokes better than Monday's performance.
Saint Mary's will get back into action over the weekend at the Illinois Wesleyan Spring Fling in Normal, Ill. This will be the last chance the Belles have to tune up their game before the NCAA qualifiers begin next Tuesday. Saint Mary's will tee off Saturday morning at Ironwood Golf Club.
